Dark of You
by katytye13
Summary: Emma Monroe had walked through hell to get back to the people she considered her family, and she would keep walking if it meant keeping them safe. Starts mid season 2.
1. Follow

**Follow**

Maggie couldn't stand being in the house anymore, it was stifling. So much grief and despair, after everything had quite literally gone to shit, and she just needed some air. She stepped out on to the porch of her house and looked around at their land. She could see the other group, Rick's group out in front of the house, all huddled around a fire. She didn't blame them, not really. Those things weren't sick and need of healing like her dad had kept telling them. She saw that now, especially after that little girl had come out. That little girl that they had spent weeks looking for. Maggie shook her head trying to get those thoughts out, trying not think about the looks on their faces, or the sound that the bullets had made. With a sigh she rolled her shoulders back and swung her neck around trying to relieve some of the tension she was feeling. She was looking out at the fence line of the property, just as the sun was setting, when something caught her eye. There was a figure out there, on the horizon. She couldn't see it properly because it was still far away, but it seemed to be walking at an even pace, not the way that walkers usually stumbled about. She tried to squint her eyes at it to get a better look, but it wasn't working, without really thinking about it, Maggie stepped off the porch and started walking to the fence.

"Uhh Maggie?" she heard Glenn call after her, his voice laced with confusion and concern.

"Glenn, look" she pointed at the figure on the horizon "what is that?" She asked

"Hey Dale" Glenn yelled to the man on the RV, "look out there, can you see what it is?"

Dale swiveled his head around to the fence and brought his binoculars up to look through them. "It's a girl" he cried "… on a horse" the confusion evident in his voice.

"What the hell" she said, in her soft country drawl. Who would be riding up to their property, on a horse of all things? She kept walking toward the fence trying to get a read on the stranger riding up on her home, so she wasn't really paying attention when Dale got Rick, and Daryl's attention, and they all started after her toward the fence, out of the corner of her eye she could see that Daryl had his crossbow raised, and trained on the figure in case things went south.

When they made it to the fence line, the figure on the horse suddenly moved, and raised her hand in a wave motion, the wind suddenly picked up and caught the girls hair blowing it to the side, Maggie could just make out that she had red hair, like the color of a sunset. "Oh my god" she cried, the recognition suddenly dawned on her, and quick as lightening she had jumped the fence, and was in a dead sprint toward the rider with Rick, and Daryl following quickly behind her. She was almost halfway there when the girl suddenly slid off the horse and fell to the ground in a heap. "Emma!" She cried and picked up the pace thankful for her long legs that let her reach her friend quicker. When she made it to her side, she fell to the ground beside her and held the girls head in her hands.

"Em, come on Em" she was saying, while patting her cheek to get her to open her eyes. She wanted to cry, when she saw Emma's eyes open slightly.

"Hey Mags" was all she managed to say though before she promptly passed out again. Maggie breathed a small sigh of relief when she realized her friend was still alive, and turned to see that Rick, and Daryl were there.

"We have to get her back to my dad Rick" she said looking up at him. Rick gave her a nod, and quickly holstered his gun before he bent down to pick up the fallen girl and carried her back to the house. She turned and saw that Daryl had managed to reign in the horse that she was riding and was leading it back with them.

"Can you put him in the stables with the other horses?" She asked him, only receiving a grunt and a nod in response, she laughed a little to herself, that man was not a talker. When they finally made it back across the fence, she could see that everyone had come out and was standing around, all very curious about what had happened.

"Maggie, what's going on?" She heard her dad Hershel call to her in concern

"Daddy, it's Emma. I don't know what happened, but she passed out" she told him making her way up to the house, she watched as her dads eyes widen in surprise, and then quickly moved to concern, Emma was like another daughter to him.

"Quick get her inside, put her in the upstairs room" he instructed to Rick, before telling Beth to get his medical bag. Rick made his way to the upstairs bedroom, and carefully laid the girl on the bed.

"Maggie, take everyone downstairs while I look her over" her dad said to her, as he pushed past everyone into the room.

"Come on y'all, you heard the man" she said to them, leading them all downstairs, and out the front to sit on the porch.

She couldn't help but smile a little as Glenn came and sat down next to her, he was sweet kid and she knew that he had feelings for her, hell she had feelings for him to if she would just admit it to herself. She sighed and leaned her head onto his shoulder enjoying the warmth and the comfort he brought her. She wished her dad would hurry up, she was anxious for her friend, and more than surprised to see that she was alive. After hearing about what happened to Atlanta, she was sure that her friend was long dead since she had been studying at the University of Georgia. After what felt like hours but was probably only 30 minutes or so she heard the familiar sounds of her father coming back downstairs. She stood up so suddenly that Glenn had let out a little yelp in surprise, she turned to the door and waited.

* * *

Emma felt herself drifting back to consciousness, and for one blissful moment she thought she was back in her dorm room after her afternoon nap before her night class. When she opened her eyes however she realized she wasn't in her dorm room. Slowly sitting up she took stock of the room she was in, before everything came rushing back to her. She had been riding for days, determined to make it back to the Greene farm to find out if the people she considered her family were still alive. When she has started to see familiar pastures and woods, she pushed herself and her horse even harder. She had run out of water about 2 days prior but knew that if she kept pace, she would make it to her destination before she was in dire straits. She remembered coming up to the familiar fence line about sunset and had been surprised to see so many people standing around in the yard, but she was pretty sure one of those people had been Mags. She slowly looked around the room she was in and realized she was indeed in the Greene house, she stood up out of bed and went to the mirror across the room and took in her reflection. She had always been petite at only 5'2", but now she noticed that she was too skinny, by product of the world going to fucking hell she thought, not enough food, and way too much cardio.

She took her long red hair out of the ponytail it was in and went across the hall to the bathroom where she knew there was a brush, so she could get the tangles out. It was so long now that went passed her shoulder blades, after she finally got the tangles out she decided to just leave it down, knowing that her head would thank her for that. After taking in her reflection for a minute longer noting her sunk in cheeks and the dark circles around her eyes, she knew she had looked worse. She was still wearing her jeans, white wife beater, and boots but noticed that the holster she had around her left leg was missing, along with her bow and arrows, she assumed someone had taken them off her. She left the bathroom and made her way downstairs, where she heard voices coming from the front porch.

"She is gonna be fine Maggie" she heard Hershel say in his soft, deep country drawl "she's a little malnourished, and dehydrated, but other than that she's fine. I promise. No bites or scratches." She heard him finish telling her, and she could see there was quite a few people standing outside with them. Opening the door as quietly as she could, she leaned against the door frame.

"Come on Mags, you know I'm a lot harder to kill than that" she said, her voice coming out a little scratchier than normal, at the sound of her voice though Maggie jumped, and she almost laughed at the bug eyed expression on her friends face, but before she could do anything Maggie had enveloped her in what could only be described as a bear hug. A little taken back by Maggies sudden onslaught she stood there quite awkwardly with her arms sticking out by her sides

"Mags... Maggie... I can't breathe" she managed to breathe out, and Maggie finally let her go, relieved to be able to breathe again, she looked up at Maggie and saw that she was crying.

"Aw come on Mags, none of that. You know I don't do tears." she told her

"I'm sorry Em, it's just... I just... I can't believe this. When we heard about what had happened in Atlanta, I thought for sure..." Maggie said, her voice trailing off at the end, not wanting to admit she had thought she was dead.

"It's alright, I understand" she told her, her voice still hoarse "anyone got any water?" She asked and was a little surprised when one of the unknown men standing by the porch with a crossbow offered her his canteen. She took in his appearance, he was taller than her of course, short brown hair, she could see the tattoos on his muscled arms cause his shirt didn't have any sleeves, and he was wearing a leather vest. Biker, she decided as she took the canteen from him with only a nod of her head.

"Oh my god, that is heaven" she said to the group after she took a long drink.

"Well?" Maggie said impatiently "Are you gonna tell us what happened?"

"Alright, geez girl. Keep your pants on." She looked around at the rest of the group and could see they were equally as curious as to how she made it all the way to the Greene farm.

"Well I guess I was lucky, when the world started going to shit, I was staying with a friend just outside of the city, really we had no idea what the fuck was going on. Even though the news was still going on, it just wasn't very clear you know? Anyway, I knew at some point we would have to get the hell out of dodge, but we stayed holed up for a while, about a week after all this shit started that's when they started dropping the bombs" Even now she could hear the sounds of the bombs going off in city, the screams and cry's that followed, the way the sky lit up, and the eerie silence that followed, she had to take a deep breath before she continued "needless to say, not something I wish to see again. After that calmed down a little bit, we knew we had to get out, being that close to the city wasn't safe. Justin, my friend wanted to go to Fort Benning, thought we would be safe with the military. I just wanted to come here" She looked up at Maggie and shrugged her shoulders before drinking some more water "We decided we would come here, but we knew there was no way we would be able to go through the city, so we decided to go around it. We had been about a week on foot, when Justin decided to head out one morning to try and scavenge some food for us. He never came back. I found him about a week later, he was the first one of those... things I ever killed"

"Walkers, we call them walkers" the little Asian kid next to Maggie told her

"Sure walker, good name as any, I guess. Anyway, that's when I learned you had to get the head. I managed to find a sporting goods store that hadn't been completely picked over took what weapons I could from there and headed out. I had a car for a while, one I managed to hot wire, but that was getting tricky with all the pile ups all over the roads, plus I ran out of gas. I never thought I would rue the day when I didn't learn to siphon gas from cars" she said with a chuckle "after that I walked. Hunted when I could, scavenged when I couldn't. Slept in trees, caves, sometimes empty houses. Got lucky finding that horse, had to break him myself but he came around. Where is he anyway?" She said looking at Maggie

"I had Daryl put him the stables with the rest of the horses" Maggie told her

"Hmph, I'm surprised he let you." She said turning to the one Maggie had indicated was Daryl, he was the one who had given her his water. "He don't really take to other people all that well, but he's a hell of a horse. We'd come upon one of them walkers, and he'd rear back and hit it in the head like he knew exactly what to do, plus he's fast. Owe 'im my life a few times over." She sighed running her hands through her long hair, when she did, she caught a whiff of herself and crinkled up her nose in disgust "Oh god, I stink" she turned to Maggie "Please tell me y'all still have runnin' water?" She asked, the desperation evident in her voice. Her answer was Maggies throaty laugh.

"It's even hot" she told still laughing "Go on, get yourself cleaned up, you know where everythin' is. I'll even bring you some clean clothes"

She gave Daryl back his canteen, and quickly left the group, and made her way to the upstairs bathroom, if she thought the fresh water was heaven it was going to be nothing compared to a hot shower.

* * *

For the longest time she just let the water wash over her, taking with it all the dirt, dust and blood from the last 3 months. Funny how something like the end of the fucking world makes you appreciate the simple things, like running water and electricity, she decided to also take advantage of the fact that she could shave again. 3 months of going without had turned her armpits and legs into something from the Middle Ages, she even washed her hair twice, just cause she could. Only when the water finally started to go cold did she get out the shower. After she dried off, she took stock of her body in full for the first time, she had cuts and bruises all over her body but nothing too crazy. She was skinny, too skinny really. Her hip bones jutted out, and she could almost count her ribs, but considering the circumstances it really wasn't too bad.

After she had dried off, she looked down at her filthy clothes, and turned her nose up at them. There was no way in hell she was putting those on after her first hot shower in 3 months. She made her way down to Maggies room to raid her closet instead. She put on a pair of simple grey sweatpants, that were much too long because Maggie was so much taller than her, and a pink tank top, and even though it was risky she decided against shoes. Her feet having been in them constantly for the last 3 months, she thought they could use a breather. She smiled as she looked around Maggies room, it hadn't changed much, the only thing really noting the passing of time was the change in the pictures. She made her way back downstairs, stopping at some of the newer pictures that had been added.

When Emma walked outside the front door, no one was left on the porch. She took time to survey the land, she noticed an RV and motorcycle parked on the lawn, and next to that she could see a makeshift campsite set up. She assumed it was for the group of people that she didn't know. She could see them all sitting around a fire out in the yard, she was a little surprised to see Maggie sitting over there with them. When Maggie noticed Emma standing on the porch, she raised her hand and waved her over.

"Emma! Come join us" Maggie called to her. Emma couldn't help but smile at her friend, as she stepped out into the yard and made her way over to the group, she was a bit surprised to see there were quite a few more people than before.

"I didn't realize y'all were runnin' a BB Mags" Emma said with a laugh in her voice, as she came upon the circle of people.

"Emma Monroe, I'd like you to meet Rick Grimes" Maggie said pointing to the guy closest to Emma, he stood up and shook her hand. She recognized him as one of the men from the front porch earlier, he had startling blue eyes, short brownish hair and she couldn't help but notice he looked as haggard as she felt.

"This is my wife Lori" Rick said, pointing to the brunette to his right "and our son Carl" motioning to the boy next to his wife, Emma noticed that that the kid was wearing a sheriff's hat. "This is Carol" Rick pointed to a woman who was slight, with short brown hair. She had looked up at the sound of her name and gave Emma a sad smile and a nod as a greeting. The blonde woman who was sitting next to Carol stood up and stuck her hand out for Emma to shake and introduced herself as Andrea. Sitting across from the Grimes family Emma noticed that Maggie was sitting quite closely to the little Asian kid from earlier. She eyed them, and quirked her eyebrow giving Maggie a smirk.

"And who is this Maggie?" She asked, still eyeing the kid with amusement, he looked absolutely petrified to be meeting Maggie's best friend. The kid swallowed nervously and stood up rubbing his hands on his pants before holding it out to her.

"Uh... I'm uh" he cleared his throat "I'm Glenn. Glenn Rhee" he finally managed to tell her. She put her hand in his, and she couldn't resist going for the intimidating hand shake, making sure to grip his hand harder than what was culturally appropriate. Before he could pull his hand from hers, she pulled him closer to her

"Emma Monroe, and don't forget Glenn... the best friend is scarier than the dad" she gave him a smile, and a wink before letting him go. She couldn't help but laugh when Maggie did as Glenn shook his hand trying to get some of the feeling back.

"And this is Shane Walsh" Rick pointed to the man on her left, she took a second to eye him up, he had a shaved head and she thought he kind of looked like GI Joe with his cargo pants, and black shirt. He had looked up at her when Rick introduced him, but he didn't hold out his to shake, he just looked her up and down and nodded. Deciding that was as much as she was going to get Emma decided to take the empty spot on the log next to Shane.

"And behind you is Daryl. Daryl Dixon." Rick mentioned and he nodded his head behind her. She turned to see Daryl leaning against a tree, a cigarette hanging lazily from his mouth. She remembered him as the one that gave her the water earlier. She nodded to him again and noticed that no one was speaking, there was an awkwardness that hung in the air, and a sadness too. Clearly something had happened before she had arrived, and she made a mental note to ask Maggie what the hell had happened, and how these people had come to be on their land to begin with, but for now she was content to enjoy the quite that the farm brought. A soft breeze had picked up, and Emma tilted her head up, pleased she could see so many stars above her. That was something she had desperately missed when she had gone off to college, you can't really see the stars when you're in the city. Emma was lost in her thoughts running her hands through her wet hair, trying to get it to dry faster when Glenn cleared his throat.

"So... uh how did you and Maggie meet?" He asked them, and she couldn't help but notice that everyone turned to her for the answer.

"Oh, uh" she started as she glanced at Maggie, who gave her a little smile and a nod of encouragement "well I guess it was the first day of first grade." She smiled a little at the memory "we were outside at recess, and I was just sitting on one of the benches watching all the other kids play. I was painfully shy as kid, and the night before I had fallen down the stairs at my house and injured my arm. We didn't have a lot of money, so going to the hospital wasn't really an option" it was a lie, one she had told a million times, and by now she almost believed it herself "so anyway, I was just minding my own business when this one" she pointed to Maggie "just plopped herself down beside me, and started just chatting away, she finally asked why I wasn't playin with the other kids, and I just held my arm up."

"I swear, I didn't even think she could talk at the time" Maggie said laughing.

"Yeah, well you talked enough for the both of us. Anyway, the she told me that her daddy fixes animals all the time and that he could fix me up too, and to meet her outside after the last bell, and then just got up and walked away. I thought she was certifiable, and ain't no way in hell her daddy was going to fix me up without payin'. So, when school ended that day, I just went on my way to the bus that would take me home, and all of a sudden there she was chatterin' away, talkin' about how I was going the wrong way and that her daddy's clinic was just down the road so we could just walk. Even if I had wanted to, I couldn't have gotten a word in edgewise" she said throwing a playful glare at Maggie "and before I knew it there, we were walking into that clinic, and she's just walkin' in like she owned the damn place. Tellin the receptionist to tell her daddy the we was in his office and that he needed to come right away." Emma, she was dehydrated and all this talkin' was making her even thirstier, but she hadn't thought to grab a glass before she came outside. "Damn" she muttered more to herself than anything "Anyway, her daddy came in, and fixed me up just like she had said, and the girl still hasn't shut up or left me alone since" she finished the story with a smile to Maggie.

"Yeah well she didn't really have a choice in the matter. I had pretty much decided on the walk to the clinic that I was gonna be her best friend whether she liked it or not" Maggie said from her spot across from the fire. Everyone chuckled at her comment.

"I gotta know" Glenn started "What was Maggie like in high school?" Maggie turned and hit Glenn playfully on the arm

"Oh god, she was a little shit is what she was" Emma told them "that girl was hell bent and determined to give her momma and daddy as many heart attacks as possible, and they never found out about half the shit she got herself into"

"Excuse me?" Maggie cried "I do believe that you were right there with me"

"I may have been right beside you, but it wasn't my idea to get fake ID's, drive 2 towns over to sneak into a bar, and then start a bar fight" Emma told them sending a pointed glare in Maggie's direction. Glenn had started choking on his drink from laughing so hard, it was hard to tell if everyone else was laughing with him or at him.

"No way, you started a bar fight? How'd ya do that" Glenn asked Maggie, but before she could answer, Emma cut in.

"By bein jail bait, that's how" She told him "I still can't believe I talked tha owner outta callin' tha cops. Should'a made your ass stay the night in jail, let Hershel sort you out in tha mornin'." She finished with a shake of her head.

"But that's why your tha best best friend. Besides without me, you would have just stayed in all the time readin' your damn books. Had ta make you get out and have some fun." Maggie shot back at her.

"You leave my damn books outta this. They saved your ass plenty of times, and got me pretty far too" Emma said, and she decided to go all in and stuck her tongue out at her for good measure.

"Whatever" came Maggies retort "don't know why you had to spend all that time studyin, you couldn't a graduated any higher" Maggie looked at the group and noticed that they were were a little confused "oh yeah, your lookin' at lil miss valedictorian over there" she said as she pointed to Emma "with her 4.3 GPA, makin' the rest of us look bad" Maggie told them with a hint of snark in her voice. If anyone else had said it, Emma might have been offended but she knew it was Maggie's way of bragging on her.

"'Cuse me, it was a 4.5 thank you very much" Emma replied tryin not to sound too pleased with herself. Emma had started looking around to see if there was any water outside, when she felt a tap on her shoulder. She turned and saw it was Daryl again with his canteen, motioning for her to take it.

"Oh... no I couldn't..." Emma tried to tell him before he cut her off.

"Gonna have'ta get your own after this, but ya need it so drink" he told her, even though he sounded nonchalant about it, his voice was firm and insistent. Emma looked up at his face and noticed that while Rick's eyes were a stunning bright blue, Daryls were a darker blue and... intense. They reminded her of the way the ocean looked at night with the moon shining down. She hesitantly took the bottle from him and muttered a thanks before she took a drink.

After that the group seem to quiet down, the air was still thick with tension, and Emma was dying to ask what the hell was going on but she bit her tongue not wanting to ask in front of everyone. It felt like someone had died. With a jolt, Emma realized someone probably had died. She hadn't seen Annette, Shawn, or Otis, she wondered if it was one or all of them. These people were her family, in a very real sense because she basically lived here after she turned 16. It broke her heart to think that they hadn't made it, but at the same time she was almost... relieved? The world had gone to shit almost overnight, the dead were walkin, tryin to eat you alive, and people, well sometimes they were worse than the dead. She had learned that lesson the hard way, and she shuddered at the memory. It wasn't till Carol announced that she was going to bed that she shook herself out of her own thoughts. She watched as everyone bid the woman goodnight, all of them looked at her with sad eyes. Not long after that, Carl was nodding off on his mom's shoulder and she too announced that they would be going to bed, and her and Carl headed off toward one of the tents, Andrea's good nights followed closely after theirs.

"I think I'm going to bed too, its been a long day" Maggie announced as her and Glenn stood up. She walked over and pulled Emma into another crushing hug and kissed the top of her head. "I am so glad you are here" Maggies voice was barely above a whisper.

"Me too Mags, I'll be in soon okay?" Emma told her, giving her a look that hopefully said that she better not go to sleep because she had about a thousand fucking questions to ask her. She watched as Glenn, and Maggie said goodnight at the front door, and when Maggie went inside Emma breathed out a sigh of relief.

"Thank god" She said as she pulled out the pack of cigarettes she had in her pocket and closed her eyes as she took a long drag off one, relishing the way the nicotine hit her blood stream. When she opened her eyes, she noticed the remaining men giving her looks.

"What?" She asked, shrugging her shoulders "it's the end of the fuckin world, not really in the mood for a lecture on cancer and shit. Not yet anyway" she could hear Daryl chuckle from somewhere behind her.

"See, he gets it" she said with a smile as she took another drag.

"So, I gotta admit, I'm surprised a lil thing like you managed to make it all this time by yourself" Shanes comment caught her a little off guard, and she turned and gave him a look before shrugging.

"What can I say? I'm tougher than I look" she sighed "plus, I wasn't by myself the whole time. I was with a group... for a little bit" she took another drag of her cigarette and tried to keep her voice steady.

"Wha' happened?" Daryl asked as he came around her, dropping the butt of his cigarette into the fire before taking the spot that Carol had occupied. Emma sighed as she ran a shaky hand through her hair, dry enough she thought, she slowly stood up and took the last drag from her cigarette before dropping it in the fire like Daryl had done. She watched the flames dance for a minute before she finally looked into his eyes, she didn't think she would ever get used to the intensity of his eyes. It felt like he could see right through her, through all the masks, and lies, and walls she had built up. It was unnerving, and it made her shudder.

"People. People happened" she told him, she finally had to break the contact and turned to the other men "Anyway, its been a long ass day, and I havta admit that I'm really lookin' forward to sleepin' in a bed. See y'all tomorrow" she told them as she began to walk back towards the house.

She opened the door as quietly as she could knowing the rest of the family was probably asleep, and when she was inside, she leaned against the door and closed her eyes, taking a deep breath she tried to will the memories away. Even now she could still smell the gunfire of the other group that had attacked them that night, the screams were still just as loud. As long as she lived in this god forsaken new world, she knew she would never forget the sounds of those screams. She willed herself not to cry, she had promised herself she wouldn't cry over that night and she wasn't one to break a promise. Even after all that she had been through to get here though, she didn't regret a single minute of it. This place was her home, and she knew that she had made the right choice. She took one last calming breath, and then made her way upstairs so she could finally get some fucking answers from Maggie.

* * *

**A/N – So this is my first ever story posting, and I did it with the encouragement of a friend, but I was so nervous posting this, that I forgot the disclaimer (I DON'T OWN ANYTHING – I barely own my Character)  
**

**Also, you will notice it is going to follow the show to a point, mostly till the end of season 2. After that I will be adding my own stuff. Also, I am changing the time line, mostly just adding a little more time – because everything happens so quickly in the show.**

**Love it? Hate it? Please let me know – also if anyone wants to Beta that would be hella cool.**


	2. Sooner or Later

**Sooner or Later**

Emma woke with a start the next morning, nearly jumping out of her bed looking for the source of what had caused her abrupt departure from sleeping. She sighed when she realized it was just Maggie coming into the room.

"Well good morning sleeping beauty" Maggie said, unable to contain her laugh as Emma broke out into a huge tired yawn.

"I swear ta god Mags" Emma growled, she was never a morning person "wha sa time?" She asked through another yawn

"Bout 11, daddy said to let ya sleep. Cause lord knows ya needed it... ya still look like shit by the way" Maggie said looking at her. Emma didn't even bother to respond, instead she just flipped Maggie off as she continued her journey to full conscientiousness.

Maggie just laughed at her again but stopped quickly at the look that Emma gave her. Maggie shuffled her feet and cleared her throat before speaking again.

"It's uh... it's time for the funerals." She said quietly "Nobody would blame ya if ya didn't want to go though" That woke Emma up, and she was assaulted by all the memories from her conversation with Maggie the night before.

They had talked well into the night, and Mags had told her _everything. _Emma's head was still spinning from it all, she had told her about Annette, and Shawn, to Otis accidentally shooting that poor boy, and then dying to try and bring back the supplies they needed to save the kid, and then the whole ordeal with the barn the day she had arrived, ending with Rick shooting Carols daughter, the one they had been looking for the whole time. It was a lot.

"Nah, I'm comin'. Just give me a minute" she told Maggie as she finally started to get out of the bed. She had to admit, the bed was heaven. Hell just about everything on this farm was heaven to her after having gone without so much for so long. She put on her jeans that she noticed had been washed, and made quick work of putting on her bra, and a black t-shirt that she took from Maggie. It was a little big on her, but she didn't care, she tucked the front part into her jeans, and began to pull on her boots.

"Lemme brush my teeth, and I'll meet ya outside" she told Maggie, and made her way to the bathroom. She spent longer than normal brushing her teeth, but she couldn't help it, again it was just one of those things you didn't know how much you missed till you couldn't do it every day. Her mind drifted over to the funeral they were gonna have, she wasn't really lookin forward to it, she had never been good at these kinds of things, but she felt she owed it to them. Maggie had told her how Hershel had reacted, and that he was this close to kicking these people off his land. She couldn't help but shake her head at the thought that Hershel _actually_ thought these things were sick and could get better. It was fuckin' stupid, but that was Hershel for ya, always lookin for the good in things.

When she was finally done brushing her teeth, she brushed her hair, surprised at how soft it was. 3 months of no chemicals and frying heat had done it some good and all her time outdoors had given her some natural blonde highlights. She decided to leave it down, she had always had a lot of hair because it was just so full, but it also meant that ponytails were heavy, and she would end up with a headache later. She looked at her reflection in the mirror, besides the blonde highlights the sun had also given her the one thing she hated most, freckles. Being a redhead so was quiet used to the freckles, but it didn't mean she had to like them, in fact they were the bane of her existence... well before the world went to hell anyway. It was silly she knew, but it was one of those things, she always thought they made her look dirty, like she hadn't quite washed all the dirt off her face. She shook her head out of that train of thought, it was the end of the damn world and here she was worried about fuckin freckles. She quickly turned and left the bathroom to make her way outside.

* * *

The funeral was a silent affair. Literally, not even Hershel said anything, not even scripture. It unnerved her. Hershel's faith was his rock, and although she had never been able to understand it, she just didn't hold that kind of faith, it was weird to see Hershel not leaning on it now. She stood next to Maggie and Beth trying to give them whatever comfort she could even if it wasn't much and she let her eyes wonder over the others that were out there, Ricks group. Maggie had told her that they were good people, just trying to make it in this shit world, and for the most part she could see that - except Shane. Maggie didn't like Shane, so best friend rules dictated she didn't either, she had been impressed when Maggie had mentioned that she had slapped the shit out of the man.

She glanced over at the others in the group and noticed that Carol was missing. Emma wasn't a mother so she really couldn't understand what the woman must be feeling, but she didn't think she could hold it against her for not being there, after all they hadn't really buried her daughter, that was just a shell. Not even human anymore.

As suddenly as they had all come together, they all broke apart too, signaling the end of this makeshift memorial. Emma watched as the Greene's made their way back to the house, but found that she couldn't follow them, not yet. Instead she decided to walk around the property a little bit, and without even realizing it she had made her way to the stables. Deciding it was a good idea to go check on her horse, she quickly opened the doors and made her way through the stables to see where Daryl had put him. She found him in the last stall on the left, and he came up to her at once.

He was a beautiful black and white paint, about 16 hands tall. She could tell he was anxious being in the stall, he wasn't used to be cooped up like this. She tried to soothe him the best she could, by rubbing his nose and talking to him.

"Hey boy, how ya doin in here? We're safe here ya know" almost like he knew what she was saying he snorted and shook his head. "well for now anyway. But look you have good food, and you don't always have to be on guard here, or draggin my ass around all the time. That's gotta be somethin right?" He snorted at her again "alright fine. Stubborn ass, you wanna go for a ride then?" It wasn't unusual for her to talk to him like this, he had been her only companion for the better part of 2 months. She made quick work of getting him saddled up, she could tell he was literally chomping at the bit to get outside and run. When she got him outside, she had only managed to get one foot in the stirrups before he took off on her.

She quickly got herself seated in the saddle as he galloped around the back of the house, and she steered him toward the fence so they could jump it and be in the open field. She had always loved riding horses, her mom had been a barrel racer back in the day, and even though she died before she could teach Emma how to ride it was still in her blood. She was always thankful the Greene's had horses and let her ride them whenever. There was something so free about being on the back of a horse, running at a full gallop, the way the wind hit your face and blew her hair back. It was like she could forget about everything, including the dead. After about 10 minutes of running around, he finally started to calm down and was now happy going along at a nice cantor. She leaned down and patted the side of his neck.

"Feel better now?" She asked him, and just laughed when he moved his head. She glanced over toward the house and noticed she had a little bit of an audience. There at the fence was Carl, Lori, Andrea, and two people that she hadn't met yet, she made her way over to them, and could tell Carl was bouncing on his heels, excited she had finally seen him.

"Howdy sheriff" she said, when she dismounted and brought him up to the fence.

"That was so cool" Carl told her with his childlike wonder, she couldn't help but smile at his excitement. "Can I pet him?" He asked her breathlessly

"Of course, here right on the nose" as she showed him how to do it.

"So, you're the new girl" the large black man said to her "I'm T-Dog" he introduced and stuck his hand out to her.

"Emma Monroe" she said shaking his hand. He was one of those guys that always looked super intimidating but was usually a big ole softy. "And really y'all are the new ones, I've been around for a while" she said with a laugh.

"Oh yeah, we know" the other man responded. He had a kind face, was wearing a Hawaiian shirt, and bucket hat. He looked like an uncle, or at least what Emma thought an uncle was supposed to look like, she didn't really know cause as far as she knew she didn't have any aunts or uncles. "Glenn regaled us of your tale this morning. I'm Dale"

"It's a pleasure to meet ya Dale, and you too T-Dog" she told them with a smile. "You know Carl, I could show you somethin' really cool if you wanted?" She asked the little boy and laughed when he eagerly nodded his head up and down, almost making his sheriffs hat fall off.

"Alright, you do me a favor, and hang out with Whisper, I need to go grab a few things. Think you can do that?" She asked him "Hey T-Dog, you look like you got some muscle, you wanna come help me with somethin?"

"Sure, thing lil lady" he said, as he helped her over the fence.

"Cool, it's in the stables" she told him, as they took off in that direction, she also noticed Glenn hangin around "Hey Glenn, come help us with somethin'" she called out to him

"Oh god, tell me it's not another walker in the well" he said when he caught up with them

Emma swung her head in his direction "da fuck you just say?" Clearly Maggie had left that story out.

"Uh never mind" he said sheepishly.

When they finally made it to the stables, she directed them to the end where there were, well for lack of a better word, scarecrows and she told them to grab them and take them back to the fence line while she searched until she found the lead rope with clips on both ends. She told them she would meet them out there because she had one more thing that she needed from the house. When she got there, she saw Maggie, Beth and Carol in the kitchen

"Hey Mags, you seen my bow?" She called from the living room where she was currently looking for it.

"Yeah, they are in my room." Maggie told her coming around from the kitchen "are you showin off again?" She asked her with a smile on her face

"What? Me? No, course not" she said, unable to keep the shit eatin grin off her face "s'not my fault the kid asked to see somethin' cool though" She made quick work of finding her bow and arrows in Maggie's room, and on her way out the door she told them they should come and watch. She had just stepped off the porch, when she heard a gruff voice behind her ask

"Ya any good with tha thing?" She turned around and saw Daryl leaning against the railings, another cigarette hanging out of his mouth. Emma couldn't help but wonder if he was trying to look like James Dean.

"I donno" she said shrugging her shoulders, a mischievous glint in her eyes "guess you'll just have to come find out" she told him before turning on her heels and making her way to the fence line. When she got there, she noticed that almost everyone was waiting for her, including Rick, and Shane. She quickly went about setting up the scarecrows in a line, making sure there was enough space between them, and that she wouldn't be shooting anywhere near the group. When she was done with that, she ran a couple of yards down the fence line toward the back of the house, and dropped her bow and quiver in the field, before returning to the group.

"Why'd ya do that?" Carl asked her, pointing to where she had dropped her bow.

"You'll see" she said smirking, she took the lead rope and clipped it to each side of Whisper, before tossing it over his head, she took the reins and turned him around so that the group had a good look at his butt. She positioned herself so that she was on Whispers left side, right at the front of the saddle, but facing the group. She had her left hand grabbing the pommel, and her right was across her body grabbing the saddle.

"I'm gonna laugh when you fall and bust yer ass" Maggie said when her, Carol, and Beth made their way to the fence.

"Oh, bite me" She told her, although now that everyone was out here, she was rather nervous and hoped that she didn't fall on her ass.

"Ya know that ain't how ya get on a horse righ?" Came Daryls lazy drawl, as he bit into a peach. Instead of answering though Emma just shot him a glare and cried "yah!"

Her body was stiff, and her feet were just barely off the ground, to anyone else it would almost look like she was being dragged, after a few seconds though when Whisper got to a full gallop she dropped her feet to the ground, and using the force of the impact and her arms she swung around dropped into the saddle. As she rode out a little way, she could hear the group behind her clapping, and she couldn't help but smile. When she got far enough away, she steered Whisper to turn around, as they made their way back to the fence she dropped the reigns and picked up the lead rope, took her feet out of the stirrups, using the saddle she lifted herself off it, and brought her feet up so they were where her butt used to be. She took a deep breath and made sure she had Whispers rhythm down before she stood straight up, using the lead rope to help keep her balance, and waved. The group broke out into applause again.

Before she could close in on the fence, she turned Whisper so that they were riding down to where she had put her bow and dropped back into the saddle. After she was well passed her bow, she turned, and before she could think too much about what she was about to do, she urged Whisper into another gallop. She got her left ankle in the stirrup, and pulled it up to her thigh so that it was tight, she brought her left leg out, and without thinking too much she leaned over the side of the saddle so that she was upside down, with one leg in the air, her fingertips just brushing the grass, a suicide drag. When they finally reached her bow and arrow, she grabbed them in one hand, and using ever bit of upper body strength she had she brought herself back up, and in the saddle. When she passed by the group, she could tell Carl was enjoying it, and some of the older adults looked like they were on the verge of a heart attack, and Maggie was just laughing her ass off.

She passed by the scarecrows, and turned so that now she would come up between numbers 2 and 3, using her thighs to grip the saddle she stood in the stirrups, nocked an arrow on her bow, turned her hips 180 degrees, and let her first arrow fly, perfect head shot, and the group applauded once more. Emma couldn't help the smile that graced her face, she hadn't had this much fun in a long time. Galloping away from the targets, she did a few more tricks where she slides around the saddle, drops her legs to the ground, and uses the force to push herself back up and into the saddle again. She turned Whisper so that she was once again headed straight for the targets, and urged him on she pushed up on the saddle to get her legs underneath her again, this time one in front of the other, and when she got close enough, she stood keeping her knees slightly bent so that they could still move with the rhythm of the horse, she knocked her arrow and let it fly, another head shot. She quickly lets two more arrows fly, both with the same result, on the fourth one though she felt her balance slipping and she released the arrow too early, the shot went wide.

"Damnit" she swore, and she dropped herself back into the saddle, and slowed Whisper down to to a walk, and made her way over to the group.

"That was soooo cool" Carl told her once she was close enough "can you teach me to do that?" His voice was breathless, and Emma couldn't help but smile. It was nice to see children be able to act like children, there wasn't much room for it these days.

"Oh, I don't know lil man" she said, as she dismounted. "It took me like ten years, and more than a few injuries to be able to do that" she told him, flicking his sheriffs' hat. She heard someone snort behind her and turned to see who it was. She could see Daryl with his trademark lean against the fence.

"Ya missed" he said to her with a scowl on his face "if tha' was a walker. You'd be dead" he almost growled at her. Emma just rolled her eyes

"Well, I guess it's a good thing it was just a scarecrow then. Plus, I'd like to see you try it, I heard that last time you were on a horse you let it throw you and impaled yourself with your own freakin arrow" she told him as she crossed her arms over her chest and quirked her eyebrow at him.

Daryl scoffed at her again, and she could see his eyes had darkened and held that same intensity from the night before. "Gonna git yourself killed with them damn tricks... princess" he spat at her, and without another word turned and walked away from them all.

"It's called fun" Emma called after him "you should try it sometime" when he was out of earshot she turned to the rest of the group "Is he always so... ornery?" She asked and couldn't help but laugh when they all enthusiastically nodded their heads up and down.

Everyone left to go do their daily chores, and Emma didn't really know to do... she was feeling a little out of place. She had asked Maggie if they needed any help, and she had said they had it under control, and that she should be resting, but Emma didn't want to rest. She was up now, and needed something to do, her eyes landed on the stables and she figured that was as good a job as any and headed over to start cleaning them out.

She had been at it for about an hour and half and decided to take a break, she didn't want to admit it, especially to Maggie, but she was tired. Her body wasn't even remotely recovered from her journey to the farm, and she was exhausted from the small amount of physical exertion. She was already trying to figure out how she could sneak inside for a nap, when she noticed Maggie sitting on the porch, and went to join her. Wordlessly she just sat down next to her and pulled her long red hair up into a messy side ponytail, before stretching out her legs, and leaning on her elbows trying to catch that elusive summer Georgia breeze. They both sat there for a while, each lost in their own thoughts even though they hadn't seen each other in almost 6 months when Maggie had come to visit her over the winter break. It was comfortable though, they had been friends for almost 20 years, they didn't always need words, and often sat in silence with each other. She was broken from her thoughts when she heard Maggie give a small chuckle, and she turned her head to see what was so funny.

"I see you're still borrowin' my clothes" Maggie said, her eyes twinkling with the inside joke. It had begun as an accident, Emma borrowed one of Maggies blouses because she had an interview and didn't have anything remotely suitable to wear. She did however forget to return it, till about 8 months later when Maggie had been looking for it to wear. Emma had stuttered, apologized and had even offered to rush home when she realized what she had done, but Mags had just stood there, giving her this searching look before shrugging her shoulders. She told her to just keep it, and that she probably needed to have something like that in her wardrobe. After that it had become this unspoken rule between them that if Emma asked to borrow it, then she really needed it, and would simply "hold on to it".

"Yeah well, you did always have more clothes than me. 'Specially now" Emma told her with a laugh, "So... you and Glenn huh?" Emma said following Maggies line of sight. She could tell Maggie was trying to keep a smirk off her face, and failing miserably, as she nodded. Emma took one look at the way Maggie was watching Glenn, and couldn't help but laugh,

"Well, you look like you want to eat him, so I take it the sex is good?" She asked, turning her head so she could see Maggie clearly, and the blush that was overtaking her cheeks.

"So good" Maggie finally told her with a bright smile on her face "I mean, I honestly wasn't expectin' anythin' when I propositioned him in the pharmacy, but I donno... he kinda grows on ya, ya know?" Emma could tell that Maggie was falling hard, she never talked about guys like this.

"Seriously Mags?! The pharmacy?" Emma laughed "Leave it to you" she finished shaking her head.

"Damn right leave it to me!" Maggie said laughing with her.

"I gotta hand it to you though Mags, even at the end of the world, you somehow managed to get some of the hottest men in Georgia livin' in your front yard" Emma told her as she looked out over the yard, Rick and Shane were milling around the camp, and Daryl was off a little ways tinkering on his bike.

"Really? Even Shane?" Maggie had a look of disgust on her face at the thought of Shane being attractive.

"Never said I liked the man, but you can't deny... if you ignore everything that comes out of his mouth, GI Jackass is hot." Emma said as she eyed Shane as he was using the bottom of his shirt to wipe the sweat off his face, revealing his toned stomach.

"Alright. Yeah, yeah, I get it. And I could see why you would think that Rick is hot... I mean he's got that whole good ole country boy look going on, but Daryl?" Maggie asked her to throw a sidelong glance over where Daryl was messing with his bike. Emma looked over at him, he was covered in dirt and sweat, wearing another button up flannel with the arms ripped off. Emma could see the way his arm moved as he wrenched something on the bike, the sight made Emma's stomach clench.

"Oh, especially Daryl..." she was interrupted by the sound of a glass shattering in the house. Both Emma and Maggie sat up at the sound, and almost paralyzed looked toward the door waiting for something to happen; then Patricia screamed.

* * *

Almost as soon Rick and the others were coming to the realization of where Hershel could have gone to, Emma was bounding up the stairs to the room she was sharing with Maggie to retrieve her weapons. There was no way in hell she was letting them go without her, she owed her life to Hershel many times over, hell he was more of a father to her than her actual father ever was. She made sure to grab her backpack, and even though it didn't have much, there was a little bit of food, and some medical supplies. Once she had made sure that her weapons were secure, she grabbed her pack, and made her way back down the stairs to wait outside by the truck. She could see Rick and Lori having what appeared to be an intense conversation just inside the door, it seemed Lori wasn't pleased that Rick was going to go out and risk his life to bring Hershel back but from the look on Ricks face, it looked she had about as much of a chance of convincing him to stay as the walkers did of suddenly turning back into actual people. Emma watched as Rick come out to the truck and did a double take when he saw her with all her gear standing by the front door.

"You sure about this?" He asked her "This might not go well"

"There is nothing you could do or say to make me stay" She made sure to look him in the eye when she told him that, as she opened the back door and settled herself in the middle of the backseat. Her and Rick sat there while he loaded his gun and watched the interaction between Glenn and Maggie on the porch.

"You got any extra for me?" Emma said leaning over the seat "You're out? What size?" He said questioning her. "9mm. Been down to my last one for about a month a now" she said giving him a knowing look - if she was going to die, she was going to stay dead. Maggie hugged Glenn, her and Emma locked eyes, and Emma couldn't help but give her a sheepish shrug at the heartbroken look on Maggie's face. She could see Maggie was worried that Glenn was going on the run, and she was going to be pissed at Emma for going, especially since she didn't tell her. Maggie turned to Glenn and said something before going back into the house, leaving Glenn alone looking absolutely terrified as he shakily made his way to the truck, and got inside the passenger's seat. Rick shot him a look as he turned on the truck

"You ok?" He asked him with concern in his voice. Instead of answering him though, Glenn just nodded. Emma couldn't help but notice that he didn't look Ok but didn't push the issue since she didn't really know him all that well, however not long after they pulled of the property, Glenn apparently couldn't contain himself.

"Maggie said she loves me." He blurted out to the car. Emma was shocked, in all time she had known Maggie she had never been in love, she was more of the love 'em and leave 'em type.

"Mm-hmm." was Rick's only response, although he did have an annoying smirk on his face

"She doesn't mean it." Glenn started, Emma reached up and smacked him on the back of the head. "Hey! What was that for?" Glenn turned around and asked her "I mean she can't. I mean- well She- she's upset or confused." Emma reached up and smacked him on the head again "Hey, seriously, what the hell?" Glenn sputtered as he tried to glare at Emma. "No, just listen she's probably feeling, like-"

"I think she's smart enough to know what she's feeling." Rick interrupting and preventing another head smack.

"No, you know what? She wants to be in love, so she's- she needs something to- to, like- to hold onto." Glenn tried to reason, he turned his back to the door so that he was out of reach of another head smack delivered by Emma.

"Glenn, it's pretty obvious to everyone Maggie loves you, and not just because you're one of the last men standing." Said Rick, again trying to reason with him.

"Look Glenn, I can count on one finger how many boys Maggie has said "I love you" too. If she said, she means it" Emma told him in a stern but still soft voice. Glenn looked like he wanted to try and dispute her claims, but she could see him coming to the realization that Emma might have the upper hand here, but to everyone's surprise he looked disheartened.

"So, what's the problem?" Rick asked him when he saw the look, he was giving them.

"I didn't say it back." Glenn said uncomfortably hanging his head at the exasperated looks Rick and Emma were giving him. "I've never had a woman say that to me before except my mom, of course, and my sisters." He started, trying to defend himself, "But with Maggie, it's different. We barely know each other. What- what does she really know about me? Nothing. We're practically strangers. But I- I didn't know what to do with it. I just stood there like a jerk."

"Look, Glenn. You just gotta do what you feel. If you love her tell her, if you don't — tell her. The world has gone to hell in a hand basket, no one has time to waste anymore." Rick told him in his gentle fatherly voice.

"I mean you could very well be eaten on this little outing." Emma deadpanned from the backseat, and when Glenn shot her an incredulous look, she just shrugged her shoulders at him.

"You're gonna feel like a real asshat if you get eaten, and you didn't tell her you love her though. Just sayin'" Emma shrugged nonchalantly as she looked out the window. "Take a left, it's just over there on the right."

"Hey, this is a good thing. Enjoy it, lord knows we don't get enough of those these days" Rick told him as he parked the truck on the side street by the bar.

* * *

_Make the plan. Execute the plan. Expect the plan to go off the rails._

Emma couldn't even remember where she had heard that now, she was pretty sure it was from some TV show, but it was a good motto to live by. Nothing was the same anymore, used to be a night at the bar meant nothing more than a depleted bank account, and a headache the next morning. Now, it meant you could get shot, or eaten, or both apparently.

"Someone shut that kid up!" Rick yelled from the front seat, as he tried to navigate his way out of the downtown area. Emma shook herself out of her thoughts, Hershel was in the backseat with her, and the injured kid. He was trying to get the bleeding under control on his leg, she looked down at the kid who was still screaming in her lap. She quickly wrestled the gun out of her holster.

"Sorry kid" She said, and she quickly brought it down on his temple, knocking him out. The sudden silence was jarring. She was still trying to get her breathing under control, and she looked up at Glenn and Hershel. No one said a word. Once Rick had gotten them clear of the walkers, he pulled the truck over.

"Everyone okay?" He asked, looking them over, Glenn didn't seem to have regained the ability to speak yet, and just nodded, looking a little green.

"Just peachy" came Emma's reply as she leaned her head back and pinched the bridge of her nose.

"Rick, if we don't get this bleeding under control, and the wound cleaned, then all of this will have been for nothing" Hershel told him, in the matter of fact tone he often used when it came to treating the injured.

"He's right, we need to get off the road, and find somewhere to hole up for the night" Emma stated, while she was looking through her bag for her canteen.

"What do you mean? We're going back to the farm, aren't we?" Glenn asked, confused why they were even talking about it.

"No Glenn, she's right. We can't risk it, we could lead the walkers, or this guy's friends back with us. Best to wait for sunrise, it'll be safer." Rick told him, as he took the canteen that Emma was passing around to everyone. "Hershel, got any ideas where we can go?" He asked

Hershel lifted his head and looked around taking in their surroundings and nodded his head. "Make a right up here, we'll go the opposite way of the farm" he told them. Rick nodded and pulled the truck back onto the road to follow Hershel's directions.

Surprisingly, 5 uneventful minutes later they were pulling into the driveway of a very respectable looking farmhouse. According to Hershel the owners, Barbara and Benjamin had boarded the house up about a month before the outbreak and headed out on a cross country tour in their RV. With any luck the house would still be boarded up, and maybe even have something useful. Rick had told Hershel and Emma to stay in the car with the kid, while Glenn and him took a look around, and inside the house.

Emma leaned back against the seat and sighed a little before she glanced over at Hershel. He looked tired, and old. With a jolt, this was the first time she had really thought of him as old. He had always seemed so strong, and invincible when she was a kid. She wanted to be pissed at him, for putting them in this situation, for running off and getting drunk of all things, hell for believing those things could be cured. He kept those things in his fucking barn for Christ sake! She would never actually say it out loud, but she didn't think Rick's group was entirely wrong about what they did, sure it probably could have been handled with a little more tact - but they aren't people anymore. Just shells where a human being used to live. She couldn't do it though, sitting back there in the truck, he just looked so sad, and... broken. This was a man whose whole entire worldview had been inexplicably shattered in seconds.

"If you're gonna say something, you might as well get it over with" He said interrupting her thoughts, she hadn't realized that she had been looking at him this whole time.

"Nope, not me" She told him with a small smile, she looked passed him, and could see Rick and Glenn working to get the front door opened.

"Hmph. That would be a first" He said, looking at her as if she had grown a second head.

"Hershel" Emma sighed, and reached over and grabbed his hand, "I am just really, really glad that your still here" she told him and gave his hand a squeeze.

"I am too honey. When we had heard what had happened in Atlanta... well it wasn't a very good day for anyone. Almost had to hogtie Maggie to the bed so she would go running off trying to find you." Hershel told her.

Rick and Glenn came back out to the truck and told them that the house was cleared, it didn't look like it was picked over by scavengers either, so they might get lucky with some food, water or medicine. Emma grabbed her bag and hurried out of the truck to take Glenn's shotgun so him and Hershel could get the kid into the house.

"I'm gonna board up the front of the house again, and park the truck around back, so that no one can see it from the road" Rick told them when they got into the house.

"Emma, check the house find any towels, curtains, anything to stop the bleeding and wrap it with, and any other medicine you can find. Glenn, I need to to get me some fresh water, and we are going to need to get a fire going as well. Nothing too big, just needs to be hot." Hershel had started to firing off instructions as soon as they had laid the kid on the couch, and everyone bolted to their assigned tasks.

A short time later they were all sitting in the living room, not speaking. Hershel had done everything he could for Randall, he had woken up for a short while, and they had managed to get his name from him, but he was in no shape to give them any more information than that, so Rick had the honor of knocking him out with the butt of his pistol this time - he would be out for hours.

Emma was sitting next to the fireplace with her head in her hands, when her stomach gave an almighty grumble in the silent room. Emma's head shot up out of her hands, and she gave the other occupants a wide-eyed look before she started laughing. She couldn't help it, it wasn't funny, but it broke the tension. The rest of the group started laughing too.

"Y'all didn't happen to find any food in the house did ya?" Hershel asked her and Glenn

"As a matter of fact," Glenn said as he started digging through his bag "I found these!" He grinned as he laid out several packs of Tuna to Go and 4 Twinkie's. He looked very proud of the meal that he had found for them. Rick chuckled has he took his portion "This is pretty gourmet these days" he said as he dug into his tuna.

They were silent for a while, enjoying their food as much as they could before Glenn spoke up "So Emma, what were you studying in school?"

Emma swallowed her food before answering "I had just finished my first year in law school" she told them shaking her head "sorta wished I had picked medicine now though, that would actually be useful with the current state of things"

"Yeah, but you would have a made a fine lawyer though" Hershel told her with a sad smile.

"Thanks Hershel" she reached for her Twinkie before continuing "What about y'all? How did all y'all meet?" She knew some of it from Maggie, but she knew there was more to it. So, between Rick and Glenn they managed to get the whole story out - and it was a doozy.

"I still can't believe you rode into Atlanta on horseback" she said to Rick shaking her head.

"Neither can I to be honest with ya, but I didn't really have any other options. It was a weird time, like I had seen them, and killed them - but I still felt like I was gonna wake up again and it would all be just... a horrible nightmare" Rick told them, he had a haunted, faraway look in his eyes. Emma didn't blame him, sometimes she thought that herself and she had watched it all happen from the beginning. She couldn't imagine just waking up in the middle of it not knowing what was going on.

They all decided to sleep down in the living room, by the fireplace where it was warm, and they could make a quick getaway if they needed to. They were going to head back to the farm at first light, they knew the others were probably worried sick about them - Maggie especially. Emma cringed at the thought of the welcome she was going to get once they were back on the farm, Maggie was gonna be pissed. She was gonna be even more pissed off once Emma told her that she had somewhere she need to go, there was still one piece of unfinished business that she needed to take care of, and judging by how bad it had gotten in town she needed to do it now, while she would still be able to. Her last thought before she closed her eyes, was how tomorrow was already shaping up to be a long day.

* * *

**A/N - I still don't own any part of the Walking Dead, or any of the characters except Emma. So that's chapter 2, hope that you enjoyed it. This is not a scene by scene retelling of the show, especially after season 2, that being said, I am using some quotes from the show that I particularly enjoy. Anyway leave a review, k, thanks, byyyyye.**


	3. The Diary of Jane

***Disclaimer - I do not own any part of the Walking Dead or the characters, thoughts or concepts. Nothing. I own nothing.***

* * *

**The Diary of Jane**

Daryl scoffed in his tent, they didn't know the first thing about survival, he thought. Olive Oil and Peach comin' over here trying to get him to do the bitch work. He wasn't no one's bitch, and he was done fetchin people. They wanted someone found they could just do it them damn selves. Figure out how to track and hunt, and give a damn about their own survival, instead of relying on him. Those pansy asses didn't know nothin, and chances are they would have been those people who would have passed judgement on him, so why should he give a damn about people who probably wouldn't have given a damn about him?

Okay, maybe not Rick, he seemed like he was probably a decent person before all this. A respectable cop, which wasn't something Daryl thought often. He didn't know why; he had every reason in the world to hate the man. He had handcuffed his brother to a roof and left him there, after all.

It was a little voice in the back of his head though that told him Rick was probably warranted in doing that. He knew Merle, Merle did not play well with others. He was always the one getting them into tight spots, and usually relying on Daryl to get them out. It was Merle that always told him, the only people he could trust were Dixon's, but Daryl was starting to trust Rick, against his better judgement.

Rick had done right by him, didn't talk down to him like he was an idiot. Sure, he'd held a gun to his head a few times, but those had been for a good reason too. He had been thinking a lot about why he stayed with the group after the quarry, and the CDC. Originally it was easy, he was looking for Sophia, being the only one who could track her, it made sense. But they had found her, and it had all been for nothing. She was dead, but he was still here. Still though he wasn't exactly packing his bags to leave, even though he had pissed everyone off by not letting anyone know that Lori had come to him about Rick. Shane had gone and brought Lori back, but Rick, Hershel, the china man, and new girl were all still missing.

He'd tried to reassure himself throughout the night that Rick and Glenn knew how to take care of themselves out there, he'd seen that before. And the new girl, well if she could make it by herself for the last 2 months then she could probably take care of herself too. He would never admit it, but the girl was damn good with that bow. They would be fine. Everyone was just gettin their panties bunched for nothin. That little voice in the back of his head just wouldn't shut up though. What if they had gotten in trouble, and Daryl could have helped? Just cause he didn't care about them, didn't mean he wanted them dead - at least, that's what he was tellin himself.

He had started pacing in front of his tent, because whether he admitted it or not, he was worried about them. They should have been back a long time ago, he looked across the yard at the other campsite. He could see an outline on top of the RV, probably Dale, he thought.

Dale was another one he liked, he said a lot of weird shit, but he didn't talk down to you and he always seemed genuinely interested in Daryl's opinion on things. Daryl sighed, he saw the beginning rays of light, and made a decision. He grabbed his bag and threw his canteen in it with some spare food. He decided to wear his jacket, he figured the sleeves could give him extra protection against walkers if they started to swarm them. He grabbed his crossbow and threw it over his shoulders and set off for the other campsite.

"We headin' out?" He asked when he saw that Shane, and T-Dog were grabbing supplies, and making sure the guns were loaded.

"Yup" Shane said, as he looked Daryl up and down "you solid?" He asked.

"Ready when you are" He told them, Shane just nodded "Let's grab the map, and get the car loaded then" Shane instructed them. Daryl knew that Shane wanted to be in charge, so he was a little surprised he was so gung-ho to go get Rick back. Daryl wasn't stupid, and he had definitely noticed the tension between Shane and Rick. Shane had been a pretty good leader for their camp before Rick had gotten there, and maybe he could have kept it up, but people just didn't flock to Shane like they did Rick. Shane was always going to be second to Rick, and Daryl could see that ate him up. Throw a woman into the mix, and it was ticking time bomb that was about to explode.

Just as the sun had crested the horizon, they heard the unmistakable sounds of a vehicle coming up the drive. They all looked up to see Hershel's truck come flying up the driveway. It was hard to tell who all was in the truck, but it seemed full.

The sounds of the truck had brought the others outside to stand with them as the truck got to the house. Lori and Carl ran to Rick as he got out of the driver's side, and Maggie had run around Hershel to hug Glen when he got out from the back. Daryl noticed that the new girl had stepped around Rick's family and was making her way to the house. He got the sense she was trying not to draw attention to herself. It didn't work.

"Emma, you get back here!" He heard Maggie yell. She was pointing at the new girl, and she was pissed.

"Uh, guys... "he heard T-Dog say "who tha fuck is that?" He was pointing inside the truck. Daryl ran up the driver's side, and sure enough in the middle of the back seat was a kid, maybe 18, blindfolded and bandaged.

"That's Randall" something in Glenn's voice said that Randall was not a good thing.

* * *

Daryl couldn't believe what he was hearing. He had snuck into the meeting while they were already talking about what had happened. Daryl couldn't help but agree that they probably should have just left this kid to his fate. An unknown was not a good thing these days, and you couldn't afford to make a mistake anymore. The problem was, what to do with him now. The options weren't good, they were essentially condemning the kid to die either way.

"Well I've repaired what I could '' Hershel said as he stepped into the room. Daryl had seen him come in a few minutes ago from performing the surgery. It looked like he had gotten himself cleaned up. "But he is going to be out cold for a while at least; and he won't be on his feet for at least a week. So, we don't have to make any decisions yet" He added looking at Rick.

Dale was the only one who out and out refused to condemn the kid to anything that would get him killed. He wanted them to give him a chance to prove himself, they could at least wait until he wakes up and they could ask him a couple of questions. Rick agreed to that, for the time being. You could almost feel the tension leave the room, no one had really liked the idea of murder. Cold blooded or otherwise.

When the meeting was over, Daryl was the first one out the door. He wasn't comfortable just yet with the whole group dynamic. Plus, Carol had seen him come in, and she was giving him these 'I told you so" looks, and he didn't like other people being right neither.

Everyone broke off into their little groups and went about their business, Daryl had propped himself up on the railing of the porch, and was absentmindedly cleaning his crossbow, he was thinking about going hunting. You couldn't have too much food these days, and he was wondering if they could start curing some of the extra meat they got. Winter was going to be here soon, and the game was already sparse enough as it was. He was thinking he could talk to Rick and Hershel about that, and he was hoping Hershel would have at least some of what they needed.

Daryl realized he could hear raised voices from across the porch. He looked up, figuring Shane had probably popped off again or somethin', and he saw it was Emma and Maggie.

Maggie was following Emma down the stairs begging her to stop. "Em, please don't do this" she pleaded. Whatever it was, it didn't sound good. Emma had stopped and turned to look at Maggie with her hands on her hips.

"Maggie, I _have_ ta do this" she told her "It's gotten bad in town, and... I just... I need to know" it almost sounded like a confession.

"At least let me go with you then" Maggie was begging her.

Emma shook her head "No, you can't. Beth needs you right now, and so does Hershel" He could tell that got through to Maggie "'Sides" she continued "I can take care of myself you know, and it's not that far. I will be back before you know it" when Maggie didn't say anything, he knew she had won. He watched as she ran off to the stables, and a few moments later she came out on her horse and took off toward the sun. Daryl threw his cigarette on the ground and walked up to Maggie.

"Want me to follow her?" He asked her looking the way she had gone. Maggie turned to look at him, she was bewildered by his offer.

She shook her head "I couldn't ask you to do that" she told him.

"Well, then it's a good thing ya didn't ask, I offered." He said, finally looking into her eyes. He wanted her to know that he just wanted to make sure she made it back.

"She's gonna be so pissed" Maggie told him, "she's little, but she's got a temper like a raging bull"

"Better pissed, an' alive don't ya think?" He turned toward the stables "ya got a horse that won't throw me?" He asked Maggie chuckled, and started walking to the stables "Come on, you can use mine." She led him into the stables, and up to her horse, it was the same on that she was on when she caught up to them in the woods.

"She's sure footed, and knows the way" Maggie told him, as she worked to get her saddled up. "Just head straight for the sun for about 5 miles or so, you can't miss it." She led them both out of the stables and handed Daryl the reigns. He hopped up into the saddle and got situated. "And Daryl, just remember, whatever she's says, she doesn't mean it, so don't take it personally." She told him.

He snorted, "Makes you think I give a damn wha tha princess thinks of me?" He asked her gruffly, before he took off toward the sun. They still had a few hours before nightfall, and hopefully for once, things would go their way.

* * *

Daryl and the horse had settled into a slightly unease pace of just faster than a walk. To be honest though, he was fine with this. He wouldn't exactly call himself an expert horseman, and - he didn't think he could handle the embarrassment of showing up back at the farm with an injury from fallin off another fuckin horse.

He wasn't quite sure why he had volunteered to go on this little mission, he thought it might have something to do with the fact that the last time he knew someone had gone off on her own she had nearly gotten herself, and her unborn child killed. Daryl shook his head, Olive Oil had gone and gotten herself knocked up. Ain't that some shit. That was the last thing any of them needed right now, especially Rick, he already had his hands full with Shane. He had a feeling that the whole fucked up situation was going to come to a head sooner rather than later.

Still though, Daryl was curious. There was just no other word for it. He had caught the end of their conversation, and he wanted to know what was so goddamn important that she would take off right after they had just come barely made it back alive.

It better be damned important.

She was right about one thing though; they were running out of time. The farm was safe, but it wouldn't stay that way. The group was too split, too divided to reach a consensus on anything. Shane constantly at Ricks throat, poppin' off, sayin and doin stupid shit in the heat of the moment. The thing was, he didn't necessarily think what Shane did was wrong. He didn't want to be livin next to those creatures either, so he had enthusiastically participated. Death to walkers! That was the slogan anyway... till Sophia had walked out. For a moment he understood why that crazy ole man had clung to the idea of a cure, beyond all reason and proof. Then Rick had shot her. Whether it was honor or guilt, he couldn't say, but he had been the only one who had stepped up to do it. Daryl had seen it in his eyes though, it had cost him something.

Maybe that was when he realized he trusted Rick. He was the one willing to do what it took, to protect the _group_ \- not just himself - no matter what it cost him.

He didn't know if Heaven or Hell was real, and honestly, he hadn't given it much thought. He did believe in the soul though - good ones, and bad ones. Rick had a good one. Most of the people in the group were good people, he was slowly comin around to the fact that some of them might care about him. Maybe.

Carol had called him a good man the night before, and he had scoffed at her. He didn't think he could be a good person, and it had pissed him off. What did she know? He hadn't exactly led an upstanding life before all this. He definitely didn't fall into the same category of people like Rick and Dale. Daryl should have been the one to pull the trigger, he had less to lose than Rick, and basically everyone else at camp.

Except Shane.

He hadn't believed the story he had told them about Otis for a second - and his behavior since then certainly hadn't helped his case. He hadn't brought this up to anyone but Dale, and that's only because he had brought it up first. He figured if his dumbass could see how stupid that story was, then surely the others did as well. They just didn't want to admit it.

Except... Dale had seemed completely shocked by Daryl's evidence for the claim, so maybe the others didn't see it. Which made them stupider than he thought.

"Man, fuck this" He said out loud to no one. All of this was startin to give him a headache.

Daryl figured he was probably gettin close by now. He started lookin around, and much to his chagrin he realized that he had been lost in his thoughts, that he hadn't been payin attention to what was around him... which he realized was nothin. It was just an open field with the woods to his left. His horse seemed to get a little antsy, she had started to pick up the pace now, not content with the prior one. Daryl squeezed his thighs to the saddle and held on.

Finally, the outline of a small house started to come into view, and he could see her horse standing out front by the porch. Part of him was hoping that he would be able to make a quiet entrance, or just hide behind the house. That way she wouldn't even know he was there, unless she got into trouble.

Whatever plan he had been trying to put in place though, was for nothing. As soon as he got within 100 yards of the house, her horse started stomping around and making as much noise as possible. So much so that Emma had come charging outside, her bow raised, looking for what was making her horse so distraught. When she saw him though, she didn't lower her bow. She stepped off the porch and put some distance between the house and her - keeping Daryl in her sights the whole time.

"Ya gonna shoot me or not?" He called out to her when he was close enough so that he wasn't yelling.

"Haven't decided yet." She told him "Did Maggie send ya?" She asked.

He was close enough now, that he dismounted from the horse and walked up to her. "Nope, now would you put tha' thing away before ya hurt someone." He said, walking passed her, headed for the... now that he was close enough, he didn't really know if you could even call it a house. It was more like a shack. A rickety, wooden shack, with a small porch off the front door. Daryl thought it looked like one good wind gust would blow it over. The two small windows in the front had been boarded up, so Daryl assumed that someone had been living here, for at least a little while.

Emma huffed, and finally put her bow down, and arrow back in her quiver. "Then what the hell are ya doin' here?" She asked him angrily. She ran to stand on top of the porch steps in front of Daryl, blocking his entrance into the house.

"Calm down princess" He said walking up the steps, looking over her into the house "I'm just here to make sure ya don't do nothin stupid. Like gettin yourself bit." He had stepped up into her space, tryin to get her to budge out of the way, but she held her ground. Keeping eye contact with him even though she had to strain her neck to look up at him.

"Well, as you can see," she said raising her arms out "not bit. So, looks like you can just go on back to where you came from" she said pointing off in the way of Maggie's house, with an air of finality.

"Tha hell is this place anyway?" He asked, ignoring her prior statement.

"None of your business" she said through gritted teeth.

"I mean, it ain't like you thought this place could have somethin' useful" He had backed up and was looking around the sides of the house. "This guy some kinda doomsday person, with one of those underground bunkers?" He asked. He had heard of those people - he figured they were sittin pretty right about now. Emma just sighed and rubbed her face in her hands.

"Look princess, we can either sit here playin 20 questions all day, or we just do what it is we came here to do." He wasn't givin' her much of choice now. They needed to get a move on.

"Wow" she breathed. "First of all, _WE_ didn't do nothin', you decided to follow me... unnecessarily" she hissed at him. "And second, I have a fuckin name ya know. It's Emma. Or just Em. That might be easier for ya'... its only one letter" she snapped back at him callously.

Daryl whipped his head around to look at her. She held her ground again, whatever was in that house, she really didn't want him to know about it. Which, of course only made him want to know what it was even more. He decided to switch tactics.

"Rick said no one goes out alone anymore, an' that goes for you to, cause Hershel agreed with him" Or at least, he was probably going ta say that soon "so, _Emma_" he said looking her in the eyes - he noticed they were a deep chocolate brown "I ain't leavin' without cha" and that was his final answer.

Emma made a strangled sound, before she closed her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose while she breathed out slowly.

"Fine" she agreed. She opened her eyes and gave him a mocking curtsey "Welcome to my _castle_ Daryl" she said sarcasm dripping off the word as she opened the door and stepped aside. "Make yourself at home"

* * *

Daryl hadn't known what to expect, but it probably would have been better than this. He stepped over the threshold and into the small... shack. It was filthy even by Daryl's standards, and it smelled like death. Over to the right was a small kitchen that was covered in trash, rotten food, broken dishes, and empty liquor bottles. To the left of the door was a couch against the wall that had turned a color that was somewhere between vomit, and horse shit. Across from it, sitting on a table made from something white trash was a very old TV. Across from the front door was what looked like a small bathroom. There was one other door by the couch, it was closed but Daryl noticed something that looked an awful lot like blood in the doorway.

"This is ya house?" Daryl didn't believe it at first. When she told them that she had been in College he had expected money - something the person who lived here had none of.

"_Was_. This _was_ my house. Haven't set foot in here since I turned 16." She was looking around the place with a look of such hatred, it almost made him flinch. So why come back? He wondered.

She stepped over to the sofa and took the bottom cushion closest to the door and flipped it over. Daryl barely had time to notice there was a small seam in the cushion, before she had taken the tip of an arrow and used it to slice the cushion open, she reached in and he saw that she pulled something out, and sat down on the couch, looking at the items in her hand.

"What're those?" He asked her. She turned her hands so he could see them. In one hand she had an old photograph, it was an older woman with red hair, and a small girl on the back of a horse. In the other hand was a belt buckle, it looked like it had probably been nice when it was new, but Daryl could see that it was tarnished and dirty, and a-lot of the stones were missing.

"These are the reason _WE_ came" she told him in a voice that said he still wasn't exactly welcome here, never taking her eyes off the picture. Daryl was about to tell her a picture and a belt buckle weren't exactly the things you risked your life for these days, but she spoke up "it's the only picture I have of her" she finally looked at him, almost daring him to tell her that wasn't a good reason. Daryl bit his tongue.

"Yer ma'?" He asked instead

"Yup" She sighed and grabbed her bag and tucked the picture into the small wallet she had and tossed the belt buckle in the bag with her wallet.

"She get bit?" He asked her awkwardly, judging by the way she had looked at the photo, he got the feeling she was dead.

"Nope." She told him. She sat back down on the couch, with her hands resting on her hands, and watched the closed door.

"'K, so can we go now?" He asked her, he didn't like bein' in this house. It was starting to remind him of his old place.

"Nope" She replied, never taking her eyes off the door. Daryl was starting to get pissed now, her refusal to even try and cooperate was really taking a toll on his patience.

"Ya ever gonna say more than two fuckin words? Tha' hell are we still doin' here anyway? Ain't nothing we can use, ya got yer stupid picture an' buckle. Let's go!" He had raised his voice slightly, and she had whipped her head around to look at him. He could see the fire in her eyes, and he knew his comment had gotten to her.

"Ok, listen up _Opie_" she had stood up, and stepped towards him "I'm gonna try and use the little words so that you can understand this." Her voice was laced with venom "_I_ didn't ask you to come, in fact I told you it was none of your fuckin' business and to leave. So no, I'm not gonna say more than two fuckin' words. And no, I'm not leavin' yet. _You_, however, are more than welcome to walk your happy ass home, don't let your horse throw you this time." Her voice had turned cold, and her eyes even colder. He opened his mouth to say something, but she cut him off.

"If you are going to insist on staying, then you can sit down and shut the fuck up. Because the next time you open your mouth, I am going to shoot you in the leg" She was right in front of his face now "Is that clear?" She asked through gritted teeth.

He actually believed she might shoot him. He didn't know her well enough to know if she was lyin' or not, but he decided not to press his luck. He grunted and stepped around her to sit in the spot she had vacated on the couch. He looked at her, and saw that she had closed her eyes, and was breathing slowly, he also noticed she was pinching her nose again. She seemed to do that a lot.

There was a sudden noise from behind the closed door. Daryl had stood immediately and readied his crossbow. He looked back at Emma and saw that she was looking at the door with wide eyes.

"Ya didn't clear the fuckin' house?" He hissed at her. He thought she was supposed to be smart. Daryl could hear the telltale noise that they made, and he knew that it could hear and smell them. He started to the door to take it out, but he had only made it two steps before she called out to him.

"Wait" He turned and looked at her, she shook her head at him. She had grabbed a pan from the kitchen and walked toward him. She had determined look in her eyes, and she had squared herself up. "I told ya' I had somethin' else to take care of. I got it." He looked at her for a second and nodded his head at her. He moved so that he could open the door but was out of her way. He waited for her signal.

She nodded at him, and he opened the door. The smell of death came wafting out first, she stood at the doorway and Daryl could see the walker was in the corner of the room facing the wall. He wasn't decayed like the others he had seen, from the looks of it - it was a fresh one. Daryl realized that's what she had been waiting for - she had wanted this person to reanimate so that she could kill it. He didn't know how that made him feel.

The walker had been a man probably not much bigger than Glenn. Daryl was surprised by that, he had half expected the person to be a fat drunk. He kept waiting for her to move, it would have been easy to take it out right now because it wasn't all riled up, but she just stood at the door. The walker had turned its head up, and Daryl could swear it was sniffing the air. It turned, and tilted its head to the side, like a child or dog does when it's curious, and for a second Daryl thought he saw something like recognition in its eyes when it looked at her. As quickly as it had come though it disappeared when it snapped its jaws, and then it moved.

At first Daryl didn't know if she was going to defend herself, just when he was getting ready to pull her out of the way, she took a step inside, and swung the pan like it was a baseball bat. The pan connected with its head with a sickening crunch, and it fell to the ground, but it wasn't dead yet. Emma had dropped the pan and walked up to the walker slowly. She was bein' careful not to let her feet get too close. She looked at it, and tilted her head so the side, like it had done to her. Then, in a move quicker than he had expected she let out a guttural scream and brought the heel of her boot down on its head. Daryl flinched.

He could hear the bones breaking, and saw the blood and brains shoot up on to her skin and clothes, but she didn't stop. She kept stomping away at the head, she was making a sound somewhere between screaming and crying. Daryl was shocked. This was hate, and rage. Maggie had told him she had a temper "like a raging bull", and he had seen some of that, but he had thought that she might have been exaggerating. Seein this though, had changed his mind. He realized it reminded him of when Carol had taken an axe to her dead husband.

The noises had stopped, and Daryl saw that Emma was just standing there looking down at the corpse. Her breathing was labored and ragged, and he thought he heard a sniffle, but he couldn't be sure. Daryl was uncomfortable now; he was never very good with emotions, especially when it came to women. He glanced around the room and saw the bodies of 3 other walkers. Looks like the poor bastard had been caught unawares. Deciding this was probably a good time to give her some privacy he quietly snuck out of the room, and out onto the front porch.

He wondered how long she was gonna be, the sun had started its decent and he really didn't want to have to stay the night here. He could hear her moving around inside the house, and within a few minutes she had come back outside with her bag and bow. He glanced over at her, he really didn't want to spend the whole ride back with her crying. Her face was blank though, he thanked the universe for small miracles. From the looks of it, she had tried to clean some of the blood and brains off her, but with no water there was only so much she could get off, and her arms were tinged with blood.

"_Now_ we can go" she said without looking at him, and stepped off the porch, before she had gotten more than 3 steps though she suddenly doubled over and threw up. Daryl groaned internally, he had never liked the sounds and smells of vomit - it was the only thing that made him queasy. Dead, rotting, rotten corpses walkin around? Piece of cake. Vomit? He'd pass.

When she had finished coughing and retching, he begrudgingly took a step closer to her, and cleared his throat to get her attention, and then passed her his canteen. She looked at him warily before slowly taking it and rinsing her mouth out. She passed it back to him with a small "Thank you"

They mounted their horses, and without looking back they took off back to the farm.

* * *

**A/N: So here's chapter 3… I am not entirely sure how I feel about it. I feel like Daryl went through a lot in the second half of season 2, so I kinda wanted to try and capture what that thought process might have looked like. Next chapter will be back to Emma to find out what the hell was going on.**


End file.
